Are "nature" schools possible in the city?

Over 80% of the French population is urban, and with it the vast majority of schools. How, then, can most pupils benefit from these increasingly talked-about outdoor classes? Can school in nature really become the educational revolution of the XXIᵉ century?

Sylvain Wagnon, University of Montpellier

This article was co-written with Corine Martel, educational consultant and director of the EducNatu're center in Restinclières, and lecturer at the Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier.

First of all, let's remember that, while the term "nature" implies a place where greenery outweighs concrete, it's also important to turn our attention to the little green nooks and crannies and parks present in the city. We mustn't forget that beneath the tar, there's the earth.

Despite urban densification, nature is all around us, all the time, whether in parks, shared gardens, avenue-side trees or rooftops, and even in the sky, where invisible biodiversity lives (bacteria, fungi and yeasts carried by water droplets). The current policy of greening urban spaces opens up new perspectives for teachers.

With the proliferation of strategic "natural city", "green city" and "green and blue network" projects, the aim is to develop a more resilient city, to limit the consequences of global warming, which in urban areas means reducing urban heat islands by planting trees or installing green roofs. All these elements are levers and resources for a school outside in the city.

Outdoor schooling in the city: a real need

The craze for the outdoor school cannot be reduced to the period of health crisis and confinement we have experienced; teaching in nature and with nature is a necessity and a need. Indeed, beyond the idea of a lack of nature, studies clearly show the benefits of nature for psychological balance, general health and creativity, all fundamental elements of a harmonious education that respects the needs and biological rhythms of children and teenagers.

The densification of cities has clearly reduced the links between human beings and their environments. Combined with increasing sedentarization, by confining children to small spaces, this development has only accelerated the gap between young children and nature, at a time when they aspire to move, run and enjoy leisure activities.

In most disciplines, curricula place particular emphasis on environmental education and knowledge of the links between human beings and nature. Marie Jacqué emphasizes the importance of teachers' different conceptions of nature. For example, they may depict nature without the human species: nature to be respected and preserved for its own sake. From this perspective, a sensitive approach to nature is favored.

But nature can also be seen as an ecosystem to be understood in terms of the relationships between living things. This approach cleverly encourages cooperative teaching practices, exchanges with peers and mutual aid.

In all cases, the teachers who practise this outdoor school in the city choose to anchor their learning as close to reality as possible, so that their pupils can make observations in situ that will serve as a basis for learning in the classroom. Because, paradoxically, the impact of human buildings can lead to the observation of a biodiversity made up of refuges for certain animal and plant species following the destruction of natural spaces. This is how projects that support biodiversity can be developed in towns and cities, such as educational land areas, biodiversity ABCs and E3D certification for schools and establishments.

This development is not just confined to the classroom, but has also been extended to extracurricular activities, with the creation of adventure playgrounds, educational spaces that enable children to explore natural areas.

Promenade and vegetation class

The "classe-promenade" is one of the most emblematic and obvious outdoor school activities. It's part of French school history and a living school. At the beginning of the ^20th century, the pedagogues Élise and Célestin Freinet took up this activity to make it an emblematic practice of their pedagogy, giving it a multi-disciplinary focus and enabling children to really take an active role in their learning. The walk was an opportunity to develop children's awareness of the environment, and to encourage direct experimentation with nature. For the Freinet brothers and sisters, this activity is a lever for radically transforming teaching and learning methods by developing mutual aid, sharing and cooperation between children.

Today, it can be a tool for developing this school with nature in the city. Admittedly, administrative measures sometimes make it difficult to take a class outdoors, but the aim is not to go far away, but rather to observe the surrounding area, where nature is present in all its forms.

The current movement to green playgrounds is an opportunity to develop outdoor schooling within schools. The benefits are not limited to making learning spaces more flexible, but also to making them more resilient in the face of global warming. It also helps reduce the risk of flooding in some cities, and creates corridors for the movement of animal species.

Moving from the asphalt courtyard to the naturalized courtyard, bringing nature into the yard is an opportunity to rethink teaching practices, by developing a vegetable garden, a garden, and implementing disciplinary or multi-disciplinary projects at all levels of primary and secondary education. Easy access and the absence of specific administrative measures are just some of the ways in which these vegetated areas can become pivotal in the construction of learning, with time for reading, arithmetic or simply relaxing in the midst of nature during lunch breaks.

Transforming the way we teach requires us to think deeply about what we want to do and what we can do. It's a velvet revolution in the sense that, ultimately, the changes are not a break with his previous teaching, but a fluid, complementary process.

Sylvain Wagnon, Professor of Education, Faculty of Education, University of Montpellier

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.